Gov. Rick Scott swung through Lee County Thursday, highlighting the success of some local businesses and touting his priorities for the legislative session coming up in March.
Scott toured the reclaimed Garden Street Iron and Metal scrap yard in Fort Myers during his visit. The more than 20-acre site off Metro Parkway had been a brownfield. Company officials worked with the Department of Environmental Protection to stop the spread of contamination and have processed more than nine million gallons of remediation water in four years.
“What’s great about this company is they do things without asking for government financial support,” said Scott. “They do it in conjunction with county commissioners; they do it in conjunction with the city.”
Garden Street Iron and Metal also worked with the Lee County Sheriff’s office to create a local ordinance cracking down on scrap metal theft in the days following the collapse of the housing market.
“I’ll tell you one thing that’s really impressive is what they helped get done statewide to crack down on the number of individuals that were stealing metal from churches, boy scout camps and places like that,” said Scott. The Lee County ordinance became the model for current state statute.
Scott also visited Chico’s headquarters in Fort Myers and Shaw Development in Bonita Springs as well as meeting with State Rep. Matt Caldwell, R-Lehigh Acres.
Scott talked about his priorities for the coming legislative session: creating jobs, improving education and keeping the cost of living low.
On Monday, he meets with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to discuss implementing the federal healthcare overhaul following an earlier decision not to implement a healthcare exchange in the state.
